New standards will improve day care - Poots

Author: Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Published on 11 January 2012 11:00 AM

New care standards will benefit everyone who uses day care services and will set a benchmark for registration and inspection.

That was the message from Health Minister Edwin Poots today, as he announced the publication of new minimum standards for day care settings. The standards specify the minimum requirements which providers of day care services must meet. They also clarify the level of service that people attending day care can expect to receive.

These standards are part of a series being developed by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) for regulated care services. Standards have already been published for residential family centres, residential and nursing care homes and for nursing and domiciliary care agencies.

Edwin Poots said: “Minimum standards of care for regulated health and social care services are an important part of my Department’s continuing drive to maintain and improve the quality of health and social care services in Northern Ireland. These new standards for day care settings are an important milestone in this journey.”

Minister Poots continued: “The standards will benefit everyone who uses day care services by giving them a clear understanding of the quality of service they should expect to receive.

“As well as this, the standards will also set a transparent benchmark against which providers can assess their service. They will help to build public confidence that inspection of these services is based on consistent standards across Northern Ireland.”

The standards will be used by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), the regulatory body for health and social services, through their programme of registration and inspection of day care settings, to assess and report on the quality of services delivered.